Paytm targets 15 mn users for mobile marketplace this year

Mobile commerce firm Paytm is targetting a user base of 15 million by the end of this year on the back of growing smartphone market.
"We currently have 7 million subscribers using the application on their smartphones and are targetting to have 15 million by the end of this year," Paytm Founder and CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma told PTI.
The company which started by offering mobile recharge and utility bill payments is now offering a full marketplace to consumers on its mobile application available on iOS and Android operating systems.
The application will be available on Windows phones by June but the company has no plans to make it available on Blackberry.

The mobile-only marketplace was launched in February this year and now has over 500 merchants with over 2 lakh items for sale.
"Given the response which we have got in the past couple of months, we are aiming to have 5,000 merchants by the end of this year," Sharma said.

He added the unique thing about the application is that users can actually chat live with merchants in order to bargain for a product.
Some of the categories already available on the marketplace are mobile phones, cameras, apparels, footwear, eyewear and jewellery among others.
The company said USP of the marketplace is that it is specifically designed for mobile users and not just an extension of online marketplace like other e-commerce firms.

It has also introduced recently the Paytm cash wallet, which is a mobile prepaid payment option allowing users to add cash from their bank account or credit card.